


Stolen Moments at Dawn

by Lhugy_for_short



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, unspoken attraction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24267130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lhugy_for_short/pseuds/Lhugy_for_short
Summary: The only thing Noctis hates more than waking up early is missing the chance to kick Gladio's butt in a race. Especially when the stakes for losing are so high.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 6
Kudos: 63





	Stolen Moments at Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> I don't write Gladnoct often enough, but I really do love their dynamic. The bickering, the way they give each other shit. And, of course, the reassurance that they're always there for each other in the end. So sweet, so beautiful.
> 
> This bit of fluff is for XylFF on Twitter, who is an absolute blessing and a genuinely good person. I wish I could do more to thank you for all you've done for me! I hope this is a start at least! 
> 
> Based on that one camp scene outside Galdin Quay, where Gladio challenges Noct to a race along the beach ;) Only, y'know, improved.

It was...early. That much he could tell from the hazy grey color of the sky and the unsettling quiet along the shoreline. Aside from the gentle rolling of waves against the sand, there were hardly any other signs that the area around their campsite was alive at all. 

Noct glanced down at his phone screen with sleep-bleary eyes.  _ 5:08 _ , it informed him. As in,  _ ay em _ . Hells, even Ignis usually never got up this early if he could help it. No one in their right mind did. It was too dark without the sun, too cold. Maybe, the prince mused as he rubbed at his eyes, if he crawled back into the tent now, he could still get in another three hours of sleep before--

“Well, if it isn’t Sleeping Beauty. And here I thought you were gonna stand me up.”

“Not on your life,” Noct quipped, mostly on autopilot. He hadn’t seen Gladio down there at first, standing at the base of the rock in his jogging shorts.

In  _ only _ his jogging shorts.

But there he was, all pecs and grins and insanely powerful thighs, stretched in some sort of pose that, if Noct had to guess, was meant to work the glutes. It was, well,  _ working _ .

“What...are you doing down there?” he asked in a voice that was part annoyance at being awake, part annoyance at suddenly being so glad he was. “I thought we were supposed to be running or something.” 

“We are.” As he answered, Gladio brought both of his hands up above his head and sat deeper into his lunge. “I thought I’d limber up while I waited for you.” 

“Limber up. Right.”

“It’s called yoga, Princess. Look it up.” 

He would have rolled his eyes, had they not been so preoccupied with the sight of Gladio ‘my-muscles-have-muscles’ Amicitia arching his back in a sun salutation. “...I’m not doing that.” 

“You don’t -” Gladio paused, held his breath, let it out again “- have to. But you should stretch at least, warm up, y’know? It’s chilly out here, and Iggy’ll never let me hear the end of it if you pull something under my watch.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” He muttered something else - it could have been a  _ I’m not a kid _ , or maybe  _ You’re bossier than Cid _ \- and hopped down over the ledge of the campsite. His bare feet hit cool sand, and a shiver ran through him. Okay, maybe Gladio was right about the stretching thing. Fine. Noct drew in a deep breath of sea air. Swung his arms a little, and lifted them up until the sleeves of his sweatshirt pulled down over his wrists. A few more deep breaths, feeling the full-body stretch in his shoulders, his chest, his abs. Then he dove down to reach for the tips of his toes. 

Something near the base of his spine pinched,  _ hard _ .

“ _ Tch! _ ” 

“You okay?” 

Gladio was beside him in an instant, concern written all over his handsome features. One large hand came to rest on Noct’s shoulder, the other near his hip. 

Suddenly, the prince wasn’t feeling quite so cold anymore. “Nothing,” he answered quickly, brushing Gladio aside before he could notice the color rising to his cheeks. “Just my back, it’s fine.” 

“Are you stiff?” 

More heat flared to Noct’s face. “N-no. I mean, well, I guess. It’s fine, I can--” 

“Stand up straight.” There was no room for argument in Gladio’s tone. Or in his fingers, which rubbed careful circles into the source of the tension. The prince winced as pressure moved over old injuries, over scars and memories he usually hid away under his t-shirt. The wounds his childhood accident had left him with flared up more often than he cared to admit. But the pain was tolerable, so long as he’d had a few hours to take it slow first.

Yet, just as Ignis had trained him, Gladio knew what he was doing. Within minutes, he’d massaged away the dull ache in Noct’s uncooperative muscles, the warmth of his hands just as effective as the strength in them. 

And they lingered there, hovering near his waist, even as the prince stretched out the last of the kinks. “Uh, thanks.” Noct twisted around to glance back at his shield, noting with surprise how easily his body moved now. “That helped.”

“That’s what I’m here for, Princess.” While Gladio’s grin oozed amusement, he still had yet to step away. Almost like he was waiting for something, waiting for Noct to push him off. Or, perhaps, grant him permission. 

Deep blue eyes hung heavy for a moment. Noct chewed the inside of one cheek, glowing steadily with soft heat, and ever-so-slightly leaned his weight back against the solid form behind him. From the outside, it would have been unnoticeable. But Gladio, perceptive as always, recognized the invitation without Noct needing to explain.

“I think,” he said, voice surprisingly gentle as his hands came to rest on the prince’s hips. Large thumbs continued to rub circles into the fabric of his sweatshirt, sending more heat flaring to Noct’s face. “You should be just about warmed up. You remember where we’re going?” 

Too focused on the firmness of the chest pressed to his back, Noct’s answer came a telling few heartbeats later. “The, uh, big rock over there. Right?” 

“Heh, something like that. Just follow my lead.” 

“Y-yeah. Okay.” 

“You ready?” 

He wasn’t, not really. Not now that he was sinking into the arms on either side of him, and enjoying the way Gladio’s voice rumbled right through his chest. But the rising sun waited for no one - not even a prince and his distractingly perfect shield - and they still had to make it back by breakfast. Stolen moments were stolen for a reason, he supposed. 

“Alright, let’s do this.” Reluctantly, he stepped out of Gladio’s embrace to turn and face him instead. A smirk stretched across his face. “But you’re gonna be the one eating my dust.” 

“Oh, is that what you think?” 

“Sure is.”

“Well, then.” Gladio opened his mouth as if to say more, but at the last second took off sprinting towards the rocks in a head start. A spray of sand kicked up in his wake, leaving Noct sputtering like a lost fish, until his own senses caught up with him and he peeled off after his friend. 

Cool sand shifted under his bare feet. Keeping his balance was harder than he’d expected, but he focused on the prize ahead, letting the sight of Gladio drawing closer and closer urge him on. The shield’s size, it seemed, was working against him. Each footfall had him sinking into the sand deeper than Noct was, and in no time at all the prince was nearly caught up to him. 

Surprise flashed in amber eyes over one tattooed shoulder. Gladio tucked in his elbows, leaned forward as if to buy himself more speed, but Noctis sprinted past him anyway.  _ Faster, faster,  _ he chanted as the rocks at the base of the Galdin cliffs loomed ahead.  _ Just a little more, almost there! _

Grunts of exertion closed in behind him. He could nearly feel Gladio’s weight bearing down, and he grinned through the strain in his calves. No way he was losing this, not now that he knew exactly what he was going to do when he won. 

The path up the sloping rock was a welcome change from the yielding sand. Noct ignored the way his lungs burned, the protest in his thighs, and pushed onward. Right over an obstacle of loose stones, right up to the outcropping Gladio had designated as the finish line to their race. He smacked his palm against the wind-blown tree trunk that stood at the very edge of the cliff - victory! - and barely had time to wheel around again before Gladio was all but barreling into him. Large arms scooped him up. Noct laughed (more of a wheeze) as the last of the precious air was squeezed from his lungs, and Gladio at last set him back down so they could both catch their breaths.

“When...the hell,” the shield started, clearly winded, “did you get so  _ fast _ ?” 

“Maybe...you’re just...getting old.”

“Shouldn’t’ve...given you that massage,” Gladio smirked, and leaned his weight against the trunk of the tree. “Damn, I thought for sure I could win that.”

Picking out a decent boulder to flop down on, Noctis tugged his sweatshirt up and over his head. It was  _ hot _ . “Told ya I’d make you eat my dust.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Fine, Princess. You won.” From his spot against the tree, Gladio was watching him with more than a little pride. “So call it. What do you want?”

“Anything I say, you have to do, right?” 

“Those were the rules, and I’m a man of my word.” 

The prince pretended to think for a long moment. He tapped his finger against his chin, drew his gaze up and down the length of Gladio’s body, as if sizing him up for his punishment. Then, with the most mischievous grin he could manage, he announced his plan. 

“Back massages. Every night, for a week.” He raised his voice as Gladio’s head dropped forward in defeat. “ _ And  _ you have to play the King’s Knight event dungeon with me and Prom after breakfast.” 

“Hey, woah, that’s two things. You only get one request!”

“You never said that.” 

“It was  _ implied _ , Your Royal  _ Dumbness. _ ”

Noct, shrugging, added with a smirk, “Careful, or I’ll make it three.” 

“Is that a challenge?” 

“Are you up for it?” 

Massive arms folded over that massive chest. “Do your worst, Princess. What, you gonna make me eat your vegetables or some-”

“Kiss me.” 

“-thing?” A pause. Gladio blinked a few times, the bravado deflating from him like a popped balloon. “...What did you say?”

Despite the way his own stomach was suddenly threatening to revolt, Noct forced his voice to hold steady. “You heard me. I want you to kiss me.” 

“Here? Right now?”

“Yeah.” 

“Oh.” He could practically hear Gladio’s heart pounding faster in the distance between them. The shield risked a glance back at their campsite - far enough away now that the tent appeared no bigger than a pebble - then again at Noctis. There was a different kind of surprise there now. A pleasant kind, like maybe, in a way, Gladio hadn’t lost the race after all. He took a step away from the tree as his hands fell awkwardly to either side. 

“Noct.” His voice was low, gentle, the same way he’d spoken to him in the privacy of that moment back at camp. “You...sure?”

“Mm-hmm.” Noct didn’t trust his words anymore. As Gladio approached, his eyes burning with questions, the prince swallowed back his own nerves. Reached up to brush his fingers along the rough edge of his shield’s jaw, and guide him in close. Neither spoke. Gladio’s heat and scent surrounded him, blocking out the light of dawn just cresting the distant horizon. His much larger hands found Noct’s shoulders, his nape, sunk into the dark hairs there as impossibly soft lips grazed against his own. 

The prince sucked in a breath. And then Gladio was kissing him.  _ Really _ kissing him for the first time, and not just in the words that had hung unspoken between them for so long. This time, Noct could  _ feel _ the relief in the way those hands, those lips laid claim to him, tender and yet so,  _ so _ intense. Like everything between them, right down to the bond they shared. Powerful, and unbreakable. 

Forget the race. Forget the games and the massages and, yes, even the vegetables. Noct already had everything he wanted, wrapped up in the distractingly perfect package that was his friend, his shield, his personal coach. 

All he wanted was Gladio. 

And yeah, he thought as he grinned into the kiss that neither seemed to want to stop. This was worth getting up early for. 

...Once in a while, anyway. 


End file.
